Essential Las Vegas News, Tips, Deals and WTF.

Ever since Station Casinos announced it wouldn’t reopen four of its Las Vegas casinos immediately after the COVID-19 shutdown, there’s been buzz about the casinos being sold.

Now, we hear two of the locals casinos may have been purchased by Boyd Gaming. They are Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson.

“Fiesta” is Spanish for “Do not believe everything you read in photo captions.”

This rumor hasn’t been confirmed, but those are the only ones worth sharing, really.

The other two casinos in limbo are Texas Station and Palms. The folks at @WeKnowVegas floated the rumor Texas Station would go to the owners of Dotty’s, a chain of slot parlors. Which is rude, because we hate when anyone knows anything before we do.

All the casinos along Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas have confirmed they’ll open on June 4, 2020.

That sound you hear is this blog becoming fully engorged.

Let’s Fremont again.

The casinos along Fremont Street are The D, Golden Gate, Plaza, Golden Nugget, Fremont, Binion’s and Four Queens.

Just-off-Fremont Downtown Grand and The Cal will also open on June 4.

In the case of some casinos, not all dining options or other amenities will be available upon reopening. The casinos and bars are really the important things, anyway.

As for the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall, officials say they’ll be open on June 3 at 9:00 a.m.

Fun fact: Virtually no one has ever gotten up early enough to see Fremont Street Experience at 9:00 a.m. If they have, they’re doing Vegas wrong.

There’s a light at the end of the sad.

At the moment, the newly-renovated Viva Vision video screen, is playing a countdown to the reopening of casinos downtown and on The Strip. Specifically, June 4 at 12:01 a.m.

While the Fremont Street Experience mall opens June 3, it will do so without its signature live bands. Announcement of the venue’s free summer concert series was derailed by the COVID-19 crisis, and there’s been no word as to whether any of the planned concerts will happen this year.

In related news, the SlotZilla zipline will reopen on June 4 at 4:00 p.m.

Time flies when you’re in lockdown. Welcome back, SlotZilla.

Demand is expected to be strong downtown (including ours) upon reopening. The buzz is hotels both downtown and on The Strip are receiving unexpected levels of room bookings, despite the fact hotels and casinos are currently limited to 50% occupancy.

Downtown Las Vegas is much less reliant on conventions and Asian visitors than The Strip, so it’s expected downtown could recover more quickly than other destinations.

We are personally going to leave our stimulus money in a variety of slot machines and bars along Fremont the minute they reopen. You know, to support Las Vegas. We’re selfless like that.

Derek Stevens, owner of The D, Golden Gate and the under-construction Circa Las Vegas, gave away 2,000 flights to Las Vegas to help kick-start visitation and support airline travel following the COVID-19 shutdown.

Las Vegas casinos have been closed since March 18, but many will reopen on June 4, 2020.

Stevens initially offered up 1,000 free flights on May 27, 2020, but those were snatched up within a couple of hours. Another 1,000 flights were made available later in the day. Travelers grabbed those almost immediately as well.

Derek Stevens just sort of gets it.

Derek Stevens made it clear those who took advantage of the free flights did not have to stay at his Las Vegas casinos, although many booked rooms at The D and Golden Gate.

Reservation lines were overwhelmed, and many folks on the company’s player development team (VIP hosts) took to the phones to assist reservations staff. They still couldn’t keep up with the demand.

Demand, of course, has been a big question of late. Casinos across the country have seen record revenue since they’ve reopening, but some have questioned how quickly Las Vegas visitation will recover, or if it will at all.

Given our own level of pent up demand, we suspect Vegas will see a healthy level of visitation right out of the gate. Hotels, casinos and restaurants will be limited to 50% capacity, however.

Here’s one last look at an empty Longbar at The D. Let’s hope we never see this again.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced the state is moving into “Phase 2” of the state’s reopening plan on May 29, 2020.

Las Vegas casinos are still on track to reopen on June 4, 2020 (although not all will, as some will wait until demand returns).

In Phase 2, bars can reopen. That’s really the most important part, but here’s a handy chart that includes everything.

Please don’t poke fun at the phase names. That’s our job.

Basically, Phase 2 means just about everything can reopen, but with restrictions like social distancing and capacity limits.

It’s worth noting salons and businesses that provide aesthetic services can open. So, what the Governor’s saying is everyone can get facials in Las Vegas again.

We’ll wait.

The things that can’t open in Phase 2? Nightclubs and dayclubs, adult entertainment establishments (strip clubs) and brothels.

Hold on, Sheri’s Ranch. Hold on.

Gatherings of 50 people or more rules out live sporting event venues, live performance venues and many of the best orgies.

As happened with restaurants on May 9, other Las Vegas businesses are now put in the position of having very little time to reopen, so expect many to wait until they can get their ducks in a row.

The process of reopening casinos on June 4 will be especially complicated, and guests will encounter a number of safety measures in place when they return. They include:

Temperature checks at the entrances of casinos, some taken by thermal scanners (100.4 is the temp to beat for entry) Employees wearing masks, recommendations guests do as well Capacity limited to 50% at casinos and restaurants Social distancing everywhere, including fewer spots at table games Four passenger limits in elevators Increased cleaning procedures, especially slot machines Casino employees will discourage guests from congregating A metric hell-ton of hand sanitizer dispensers

On the bright side, life will finally start to get back to normal in Phase 2. From hardcore gamblers to locals going stir crazy during the shutdown, we should see Las Vegas spring back to life in no time. Pent up demand is going to ensure a strong start, and from there we collectively make the best of an awful situation nobody could’ve predicted. Except Bill Gates. But pretty much nobody.

We’ve never been more excited to just sit in a bar and banter with a bartender about plastic versus paper straws. To see a movie. To get a massage. To laugh at people going into gyms and art galleries. To get a nipple piercing. Mostly the bar thing.

You can see the official Phase 2 announcement in the official news release (.pdf format).

Resorts World is looking more and more like a proper Las Vegas resort, so we stopped by to check out the progress.

Boom.

We like to think “boom” makes things more dramatic. Play along.

In case that wasn’t dramatic enough, take a look at our photo from August 2016.

Modesty precludes us from reminding you how “essential” we are, probably.

Resorts World, owned by Malaysia-based Genting Group, is a new casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip slated to open in summer 2021. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that timeline has been slowed by the COVID-19 shutdown.

It’s really important Las Vegas have something to look forward to right now.

The hotel tower was topped off in August 2019, and construction now extends nearly to Las Vegas Boulevard. It’s mostly shopping, but who cares? Exciting!

The Resorts World hotel tower was built on the bones of Echelon Place, probably farther from the sidewalk than the current owners would’ve preferred. We play the hand we’re dealt.

Resorts World is 59 stories tall and will have about 3,400 rooms. The resort is expected to cost about $4.3 billion.

Resorts World was originally going to have an Asian theme, but that was nixed, along with any hopes of live pandas.

Here’s a look at the most recent rendering of Resorts World Las Vegas.

Resorts World has already started testing the lights on its west tower.

Look closely, and you can see how some of the features in the renderings are being brought to life.

Just take our money. We’re ready to party.

Dropping the Asian theme was one of many changes at Resorts World since the project was first announced back in 1865.

Here’s a look at one of the original renderings, where Resorts World was going to have seven hotel towers. The only constant in Vegas is change.

The original vision for Resorts World was a tad extra.

Resorts World recently released new renderings of some of its interiors, including for bars and some of its meeting areas.

Asian theme out, whimsy in.

What a wild ride it’s been for Resorts World, with multiple delays (most intentional) and numerous staffing changes.

The latest buzz (ours, to be specific) is Resorts World is shaping up to make a splash when it opens in 2021, and we love us some Las Vegas newness.

Word is the resort is sparing no expense in its design and construction, and we’ve also heard a serious investment is being made in wrangling world-class entertainment.

A number of potential headliners have been in the mix, including the first lady of residencies, Celine Dion. We’re actually the only one that’s floated that rumor, but Resorts World hasn’t denied it, so we’ll take it.

Dem views, tho.

Check out our vast and poorly-focused photo gallery for more of the latest from Resorts World. It many have taken a pandemic for us to fully appreciate the splendor of Resorts World, but we’re a bigtime cheerleader at the moment.

Absolutely nothing can compare to that new casino smell.

Update (5/28/20): Resorts World is installing and testing its video screen.

Resorts World is apparently using Windows 95. We kid. It’s going to be awesome.

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